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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24214039">To catch a pureblood</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/IzzyLou/pseuds/IzzyLou'>IzzyLou</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 04:41:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,328</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24214039</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/IzzyLou/pseuds/IzzyLou</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Pansy had it all planned out- of course she could catch the eye of that beautiful pale blond pureblood with the grey-blue eyes...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Draco Malfoy &amp; Pansy Parkinson, Luna Lovegood/Pansy Parkinson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>To catch a pureblood</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Pansy sniffled into her silk handkerchief in an optically pleasing, ladylike fashion with an acoustically displeasing, elephant-like sound. Hearing that sound escape her person only resulted in worsening her sniffling, finally resulting in an all-out breakdown which lead to Madam Pomfrey‘s decision to subdue the girl with a sleeping spell. This also gave her the chance to pry the hankie from the girl‘s face to assess the damage done by her ill-advised spell. A nose roughly the same size as Hagrid’s- well she had seen worse. She shook her head over the sleeping teenaged witch and contacted Professors Flitwick and McGonagall for help reversing this facial mishap. A single tear slid from the closed eyes of the girl in question and Madam Pomfrey once again was left wondering what lead teenaged witches to resort to such drastic measures....<br/>Ever since the day Pansy had heard from her father that the Triwizard Tournament was going to be held at Hogwarts that year- and, more importantly, that it would include a traditional yule ball- she had adhered to her revised plans to catch Draco Malfoy‘s eye before that day. That only meant an amplification of her already ongoing efforts, considering she had first made plans to marry him the very day they first met- at age 9. Since starting at Hogwarts she had already had to step up her game, considering that there were a lot of other girls there, and Draco was quite obviously sublime husband-material. Subjectively speaking. Purest blood, richest family, oldest name. Add to that his supremely confident attitude and perfectly groomed aristocratic looks... all in all very... marriable. And now was the perfect time to catch that supreme pureblood- as her mother tended to remind her in every single letter- before someone else realized their mistake in not courting him already. „He already knows you are of pure blood and an influential family. All you need to do is turn his head and catch his eye as a potential wife. With determination and technique a girl can get any man to marry her, mark my words.“ was her mother’s advice, shortly before sending her to a swiss finishing school for witches, the same one Narcissa Malfoy had attended at her age. „Only the best for my princes“ her father had claimed before sending her off for 6 weeks to gain „the refinement, poise and demeanor of a true lady“.  It had been an enlightening course, Pansy reflected, and she now took great care to impress her future husband with all of her refined poise. <br/>However after several weeks went by without any increase in positive reactions by her intended (she compared her meticulous statistics detailing ˋsmiles in her direction, events involving eye-contact over 3 seconds and interactions initiated by him´ to those of previous years) she had angrily owled the swiss institution with her complaints. The letter included a seven foot roll of parchment lamenting the lack of improvement upon previous years‘ scores despite adhering to all the rules, and detailing all interactions of the last two weeks with a plea for exact analysis of possible further refinement of her husband-attracting skills. Unsurprisingly, she received no reply. <br/>Which lead to her being found in this unfortunate predicament, lying unconscious in the hospital wing with three adults standing over her, shaking their heads in exasperation, trying to return her nose to it‘s normal shape and size. After waking up with a successfully shrunken nose she succumbed to another round of sniffles- this time producing the intended refined ladylike sound- and explained to Madam Pomfrey that she had only intended to slightly improve upon the shape of her nose, which she had heard described as „distinctly pug-like“ to turn the head and catch the eye of a certain young wizard. It was after all the only imperfection she had discovered in her plans upon meticulous analysis. The matron left her to collect herself and headed for her office to complete the paperwork on the incident. Once Pansy was alone she carefully checked her reflection in her pocket-mirror- it wouldn’t do to be seen in a state of disarray by a particular someone. „You know, you really shouldn’t change your nose. It‘s quite lovely the way it is.“ a dreamy voice came from the bed right behind her. Pansy turned around with a suprised squeal (a sound not approved of by the Mistress of her illustrious finishing-school) to glare at the blonde girl in Ravenclaw robes, who had pushed aside the partition and was looking at her unblinkingly. „What’s it to you, Ravenclaw?“ she asked imperiously, systematically appraising her and mentally categorizing every flaw and infraction against the rules of ladylike behavior committed by the strange girl. „It’s Luna“ the breaker of at least 27 rules said. Make that 28, Pansy thought, a lady never speaks out of turn. „What’s lunar?“ she asked despite herself. Her mother would not approve of her interaction with such an unrefined person. „Not lunar, silly. Luna. My name is Luna.“ Okay, Pansy corected herself, 29: one did not call a lady of obviously higher social standing ˋsilly´ to her face. Everyone knew that, for Merlin‘s sake! „And you are Pansy Parkinson. Did you change your nose to surprise Draco Malfoy, too?“ the strange person continued. That comment stopped Pansy cold in her tracks. Why would she ask that? Did she see herself als Pansy’s competition? Was she after Draco as well? Obviously she wouldn’t stand a chance, but still.... Lovegood was a pureblood name, after all. Not an important or respectable one, but she was a pureblooded female and as such not completely dismissible as... „you know it‘s rude to stare, don’t you?“ the irritating girl interrupted her thoughts. She‘s one to talk, Pansy fumed internally. „You don’t know what you’re talking about, Lovegood. Now leave.“ she said in her most demanding voice. The younger girl just shook her head, „not without my pinky finger, it still has to regrow you know, I seem to have....“ „well then regrow your finger silently“ Pansy snapped and left the room with a well practiced toss of her hair. She would keep an eye on that one, just in case she was after her man, she decided. You could never be too careful around a determined Ravenclaw.<br/>Over the next five days Draco looked at Pansy 13 times in the 34 hours she managed to spend in his company, twice for over three seconds and he initiated contact once when demanding her to bring him another pillow as his armchair was not quite comfortable enough. That meant an average of 0.38 looks per hour. An abysmal performance, considering her average was at 1.01 last week and 0.84 since the start of term. In comparison the horrible Lovegood girl had obtained 5 looks in less than seven minutes of direct contact (in the halls between classes), all of them over three seconds, and Draco had initiated contact at every single one of those occasions. Granted that contact consisted purely of one-sided ridicule and insults, but still the numbers did not lie. Lovegood had archieved an alarming 42.9 looks per hour. That simply wouldn’t do. Rule number one was to turn his head and catch his eye, and she would not lose to such an inferior woman. She flipped her hair in determination, the movement catching Draco‘s eye from across the common-room table (though for less than two seconds). At least that brought her average up to 0.41 looks per hour.... still, she had to get to the core of Lovegoods high score if she ever wanted to archive her goal. <br/>So the next day she cornered Lovegood in the girls lavatory, shooting a privacy spell at the door to prevent being overheard talking to ...that. Lovegood, however, seemed completely unfazed by her unusual behavior and smiled serenely at her in the mirror. „It’s lovely to see you, Pansy“ she spoke at her reflection „are you hiding in here from the wrackspurts, too?“. Pansy opened her mouth to reply with a scathing, yet confused, comment, but reminded herself to stay on task. „Do yourself a favor and stop trying to get him. He‘s mine!“ she stated, staring down the strange girl in the mirror in turn, who cocked her head to the side pensively and finally turned around to face her- as any civilized person would have done at the start of this conversation. Once again those pale eyes looked at her unblinkingly and Pansy felt her stomach clench in discomfort. Was she slow as well as strange? Ravenclaws were supposed to be smart, and even a Gryffindork would have caught her meaning by now. But this was a cause she was willing to elaborate for. „Draco“ Pansy enunciated. „Whatever you are trying to achieve with him. Just give up.“ The girl continued to stare, her eyes crinkling in a smile, and a small giggle escaped her lips. Despite herself Pansy had to concede that said giggle did conform to the rules concerning the ladylike expressions of mirth, though it was uncalled for in this situation. „I really have no interest in him, dear“ she giggled. How dare she?! Petnames and terms of endearment were not an appropriate form of address to someone of her station! That word was falling from the lips of the entirely wrong pale, blond, blue-eyed pureblood! „Then how is it you can catch his eye so easily-“- Pansy had not meant to say that out loud. Lovegood had distracted her with her inappropriate social behavior! She scowled and whipped out her wand, pressing it to the girl‘s neck. „A word of this to anyone and I will see your reputation destroyed... wait, it already is......I will turn you to the laughing stock... no that doesn’t work either.... just....you‘ll regret it, okay?!“ Pansy fumed, leaving before she could sink to the level of that plebeian stain upon pureblood society. That had not gone to plan. „Pansy,“ Lovegood called after her, „I would never try to go after a friend’s crush, you know. That would go against the girl-code“ and she brushed past her with another serene smile. The nerve of that girl! They were not friends! Never in a thousand years would she be seen associating with that... person! Never! Ever! <br/>Fuming, she ran after her, only catching herself in the action after several hurried steps and scolding herself for the undignified movement. „Lovegood“ she hissed once she had caught up to her, „we are not friends! We would never be friends in a million years. You are ridiculous and uncivilized. Just look at all that“ she said with a wave encompassing all that was wrong with what she was seeing. Despite wearing the same robes as every other student Lovegood stuck out like a sore thumb with her ridiculous homemade jewelery and her unfashionable hairstyle, „You turn heads everywhere you go. I mean everyone is staring at you and..... and....“ Pansy froze in her tracks. She hastily grabbed Lovegood by the arm and pulled her into an unused classroom just around the corner. She got the previously entangled couple that was already occupying the space to leave with a single scathing look (What was Blaise thinking, consorting with McLaggen, anyways? She could do so much better than that Gryffindork!) and turned to face Lovegood once more. For once the girl seemed startled out of her irritating serenity, looking questioningly at Pansy’s hand still clutched around her forearm. Pansy let go as if suddenly burned by the physical contact. „You turn everyone’s head. You catch everyone’s eye. How do you do it? And more importantly how can I do it? Without looking like lunatic... without looking like... you...oh....“ she slowly trailed off. Maybe Lovegood hadn’t been the right person to ask after all. That realization was confirmed when the blonde once again gave a soft giggle. „You know, I already look like me. It’s better if you look like yourself, otherwise people might get confused... and I would miss your nose in the great hall....“ „What... you.... why.... I would never... How dare you suggest... my nose?? You....“ Pansy spluttered. She spluttered! That horribly irritating Ravenclaw had gotten her to splutter, a faux-pas she hadn’t allowed herself since the age of eleven! And now Pansy was blushing! In an non-intentional way. Simply blushing. She had to get a hold of herself! Why had she ever thought to approach such a disruptive, uncultured, irritatingly positive, constantly smiling, unconventionally somewhat pretty (if she were honest) but entirely inappropriately behaved person! And why was she getting flustered in her presence? It must be the pale hair and blue eyes, she reasoned with herself. She must have simply been reminded of Draco for a moment, after all he was the man she intended to marry. And if Draco ever smiled that openly his eyes would surely light up the same way and his lips would surely be just as beautifully curved... and soft and warm... and moving in perfect synchronization with hers, tasting slightly of cherry blossom, and..... OH NO, was she kissing her? Pansy tore open her eyes, breaking the kiss in one motion and leaving the room in the next before Luna could even blink- not that she would have, of course. Once outside the closet she leaned against the door in pure, horrified mortification. Had Lovegood confounded her? Had she hexed her? Bewitched her? Enthralled her with a curse and her beautiful blonde hair, which had felt so soft under her fingers....<br/>When asked in a letter from her mother whom she would be attending the yule ball with after it’s announcement two weeks later she simply replied with „a certain pale blond pureblood, of course!“, upon which a reply came in a package with a beautiful silver dress so „her intended will be sufficiently impressed“. Pansy smiled. She was sure that Luna would be.</p><p>The End.</p>
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